Fire and Ice

very year I make the same resolution and inevitably break it by about February (once I made it all the way to March!). I really do need to lose weight and it is really annoying me now. But how can I make sure that this time I go the distance and reach my goal? By doing something drastic, like aiming to run a marathon in early 2008. Yes, this is my novel way of sticking with it and keep focused on the task. In fact, you might have noticed that the goal isn’t directly to lose weight, but this should follow as a result of all the training I’ll have to do. So I can keep focused on the marathon training and the weight loss should follow. Why a marathon? Why not, say, a half marathon? Or something less exhausting? Well, to be honest it is because I am a huge Disney fan and I really want to run in next year’s Disney marathon. It is in Florida and the course takes runners through all four Disney parks, which is motivating all on its own. Also, Florida is pretty flat and the weather is not humi

Now that my vacation is a long, distant memory I have spent a little while putting together a kit of sorts, with all the various bits that will be used to create the scrapbook. As this one’s a special holiday, it gets a scrapbook all to itself! I noticed that about 70% of what I put away in the box was paper: but we’re not talking patterned paper or even plain paper but more like literature. I had hundreds of bits of papers – tickets, maps, menus, hotel brochures, local paper, theme park guides, etc. I managed to fill an 18lt box with all sorts of random documentation. Thing is though, it is all important to me one way or another. I have always been ruthless to throw things away and don’t tend to hoard anything except for when it comes to Florida vacations. I may grab things here and there on other vacations but when I’m in Florida (especially Disney) I take all I can. I always have. Eventually I had the problem of storage and when my box overflowed, I started cutting up bits and piec

Just before I went on vacation, a dream store opened here in Milton Keynes: Borders! Yes, the bookstore. I really love this store mainly because it sells books and does this job beautifully. There are few bookstores that display books so well and make it so easy for me to have to buy another book. If I could, I think I’d love to work there and I would be in heaven, surrounded by books. I’ve already been like five times since it opened earlier in the month, and bearing in mind I’ve been on vacation for most of November, it isn’t a bad average. I just love books. I love and love and love books. Books have been my friends for a long time, since I learned to read at the age of 4. Ever since I discovered the written word I have been pretty obsessed with books and have always been attracted to reading. It’s one of my favourite pastimes – sometimes even more adored than scrapbooking, I have to say. Reading is portable, easy to do and it fills my head with places, peoples and ideas that mig

t’s official – there is something wrong with me when it comes to shopping for stash. I’ve just spent a lovely couple of weeks in the States and along with enjoying the sunshine and beaches of the Sunshine State, I had the chance to visit a few scrapbook shops (only a few, honestly, I was having too much fun to be inside). I visited a couple of the big chains and a couple of smaller, independent shops but the result in all of them was the same: I hardly bought anything. I don’t know what it is about stash shopping but I seem unable to do it like everyone else does: with gusto. I relish the experience and like looking through the lovely shelves of merchandise but when it comes to committing some money, I become far too practical and choosy: it is all so lovely but do I really need it? The answer is usually no, so it stays on the shelf. Besides, I say to myself, where will I put it when I get home? I don’t have that much room anyway. Nothing really grabbed me and shouted at me BUY ME. Sur

I have of course very fond memories of my time as a Disney Cast Member. I loved spending time alone in the parks, when off-duty. It may sound a bit sad but it is very hard to feel lonely when surrounded by happy families on vacation and all enjoying the warm sunshine and the blue skies, while making memories that will last forever. My favourite thing to do in the parks was to sit and eat a hot dog while watching the Fountain of Nations in Epcot while it performed it’s explosive and watery shows. Seriously, I loved to do this (plus, I really love hot dogs and it’s the one thing I miss now that I’m veggie!) and I sometimes would hang around so that I could catch two or more shows. I loved it. Thinking about it now, I think what I really liked about this was that it was a chance for Disney music to shine. I am talking about all that background music that you can hear everywhere on property as well as the music from the rides. I have always found it interesting that these pieces of music –

I have a confession to make – I’m a big Disney fan. A huge Disney fan. I’m practically a Disney maniac. I’d have Mickey everywhere in the house if I could, not to mention all the DVDs and CDs and books... I try to keep this under restraint, though. Especially now that I live in the UK, the land of the restrained. For example, my little boy does not have a Disney-themed bedroom because I purposely chose quite a neutral décor. He does have a Sorcerer Mickey plush (which is actually mine) and a Mickey blanket, but that gets rotated so it’s only on the bed one week out of four. The other three weeks there is a plain blanket on the bed. Plus, the only reason I have a Mickey blanket is because someone gave it to me when he was born! Like any addict I’ve tried to control the obsession: I do have a few earrings and necklaces with Mickeys on them, but they are pretty discrete. All my Disney books are on one bookshelf and not very obvious. I have a normal telephone even though I would really, re

I know some people out there will sympathize with this thought: is it possible to ever go back home? Of course we can all physically return to the place we consider home, but what I mean is, there are so many other things that make a place “home”, not just the physical, and often these things are so transitory that they aren’t there ever anymore. But the people that stayed behind, as it were, evolved slowly with these changes so they don’t notice anymore – but those of us that didn’t participate in these changes will of course notice and of course not like them. Because that means it isn’t “home” anymore. For example, I’ve been living in the UK nearly 10 years and all those things that one does as an adult (bank accounts, mortgages, home maintenance, etc) I’ve only done in the UK. I don't know how any of these things work back in Mexico. For instance, when I go back it always strikes me that people don’t have access to online banking, yet it’s something I just couldn’t live without

It’s not a complaint heard often but I’ve discovered I really don’t know how to shop for embellishments. I love going to scrapbook shops and looking through all the lovely things available, touching them and seeing all the beautiful colors... but when it comes to commit and pay some money, I always find myself saying “what do I need this for?” I’m ok buying cardstock and of course adhesives. Those are good old practical essentials and I have no problems there (although at the moment I haven’t bought any cardstock for ages because I know I have plenty). But I really struggle when it comes to paper but can sort of do it. But embellishments – I am hopeless there. Unless it is something really simple and useful like brads, I just can’t buy the stuff. I went to one of the loveliest shops in the UK last weekend (IMHO) and spent a lovely time looking through all the stash for sale there and almost forced myself to buy something – and then it only was something I knew I needed and would use. W

Yesterday was such a beautiful day – and it was my day off so what good timing, hey! Even though it’s mid-October and the weather is certainly cooler now, the sun shone, the sky was blue and the colors of everything were just amazing. I went for a long walk along some of our local linear parks and was just struck by how pretty everything looked. But I didn’t take my camera! To be honest, I did think about it before I left the house but I just wanted to walk and enjoy being outside, rather than concentrating on taking photos. I felt that my walk would become almost a chore, having to compose photos and then print them out to place on a layout. I did have a lovely walk, it was certainly memorable and deserved a special place in my scrapbook but I just thought that somehow recording it would make it less special... does this make any sense? In any case, I do think I should take some photos of Milton Keynes soon. It is such an unusual place here in the UK – a planned city that is successfu

As many of you know, I’ve recently joined the design team at www.willowtreecrafts.co.uk and although I’d already completed this month’s project, I had enough paper left over to try and do something else with. The kit was mainly shades of pink and some Doodlebug text paper with love words all over it... now, I don’t have many photos that scream LOVE to me, and neither do they necessarily require pink, so it took some thinking but in the end I’ve managed to create two things so can’t be bad! The first was a mini album – it was easy to put together and a joy to decorate with the gorgeous sheets of matching Chatterbox papers I got. I had some old photos of David and I while we lived in Florida, so this was a great place to put them, so the little book had the theme of love all over it, based on the Doodlebug paper. In the end I didn’t actually USE that paper but I managed to convey the love thing through the colors and embellishments. So last night I sat staring at this unused Doodlebu

I really like patterned paper and am truly not afraid to use it – I think that buying pretty paper for it to sit unused for ages in a cupboard is a crime! So whenever I get the chance, I will cut, sand, tear, rip, wrinkle and otherwise destroy perfectly good pieces of patterned paper to create embellishments for my pages and you know what? I LOVE IT! I love layering patterned papers and sometimes even think I use this technique too much. But it is very effective, easy and infinitely variable. It suits almost any kind of layout and also enables me to use my precious scraps. One quick look at my gallery and you’ll find lots of examples of my layouts with this technique – I can’t stop using it. So I thought I was pretty good at using patterned papers until someone told me to read Ali Edwards’s book “Designer’s Eye for Scrapbooking with Patterned Paper”. Oh my goodness – this is one good book. Not only does it have some amazing layouts, it has completely usable ideas that I am definitely g

Tomorrow is my best friend’s birthday. The date also reminds me of High School (HS) as this is where we met and his birthday was only a few months after we’d started our first term in 1987 so this means that we’ve known each other for nearly 20 years! Did I really start HS nearly TWENTY years ago? But it seems so long ago... and surely I don’t look that old, right? But seriously – I loved HS and would do it all over again if I could – but of course it would never be the same. Other than loving it because that’s the place I met lots of my best friends (including Jose whose birthday is tomorrow. For the record: Happy Birthday!) I really loved the whole learning experience in those two years. Previously my educational experience was of course Primary and Secondary school, which I also loved – I guess I just love learning. But we mainly stayed in one classroom, had very strict rules about everything and the school day was tightly regimented. HS changed all that – we had different classroom

Just over four years ago I went on the best holiday I have ever had. It has long been a dream of mine (and, curiously enough, of my husband’s too) to travel to Japan and after a few years of thinking about it, we just went ahead and booked it. It was just after 9/11, airfares were cheap and we shamelessly took advantage of this to get on a plane to the Far East. I have been fascinated with Japan for as long as I can remember. My great aunt is a fan and her house is totally decorated in Japanese style and I always loved looking at all those beautiful things. Also, I love the food – and in Mexico it’s been available far, far longer than it has here in the UK – and sometime in the late 90s I read “Memoirs of a Geisha” which actually fuelled my desire to see this amazing country. We are very lucky in that we have Japanese friends living in Japan, so they were very helpful in organizing our itinerary and also as a place to stay. We were there just under 3 weeks and we saw so much, a lot

When I first started my stash accumulation (which actually came many years after the start of my actual scrapbooking!) I wanted to get a good selection of embellishments that I could use time and time again and quickly got hooked on brads. They look really cute when sorted in boxes, come in many colors and sizes and don’t require specialist tools to set – so they seemed ideal. For the record I also got lots of eyelets at the time but because they require hammering, I don’t use them too often at crops. But I do have a lot of eyelets too, although not as many as brads. Anyway, back to the story. I really loved brads and started buying them any chance I got. Thankfully I never got into “shaped” brads and concentrated on round and square ones (a few stars and flowers too) in mainly metallic colors. This has proved to be a good decision as I can always find a use for them – reindeer shaped red brads don’t have that versatility, I find. ; ) The thing about brads is that they come in huuuuuug

Something that really, really irritates me is the way clerks here in the UK throw all your change, receipt, cards and anything else back to you in one disorganized pile which they place in one of your hands. I then have to spend a few seconds checking the change myself (because they never ever count it back!!), placing the receipt in the bag with the shopping, the plastic card in its place in my wallet and the change in a separate place. It’s particularly irritating when they hang on to the card even when they don’t need it anymore, just to make sure that it all is returned to you in one huge, messy pile. ARGH! I love the way Americans do it: count the change back, place the receipt in the bag for you and give you back the plastic cards separately, making sure you have enough time to put it all back away. This means that I actually spend less time at their desk because I have time to sort it all out before I walk away. Is it THAT difficult for UK businesses to implement this? It is SO

I hate silence. As I sit here in my office writing this, I am really aware of how quiet it all seems – just the soft sounds of keyboards tapping, a few quiet conversations, footsteps along the corridor... and it is distracting. I just can’t concentrate on anything when there is no music on! Let me go and grab my MP3 player... ah that’s better! Now with my head full of music (Barry Manilow, since you asked) I can concentrate better, focus and feel the creative juices flowing for this entry. Silence, for me, is loud and really distracts me. Music, on the other hand, has the opposite effect. So whenever I can, I scrap to music. I find that I actually produce better work when I do it to music. It isn’t always possible as it isn’t very sociable at crops to wear my earplugs and sometimes at home I’m in the dinning room scrapping and my husband might be watching TV or something, so we keep that on instead. But scrapping to music, in the words of Mr Manilow, could be magic. As I have said befo

Have you ever tried to explain scrapbooking to someone that doesn’t? It always ends up sounding like quite a strange thing to do: stick photos and bits of paper in an album, along with some writing... or perhaps I don’t describe it very well. In any case, I don’t often talk about scrapbooking with non-scrappers – maybe because I have such a hard time trying to make it sound not-lame, maybe because I just like to keep some things to myself, maybe because I don’t need to. Also, I’m not a scrapbook evangelist at all. My work colleagues, for example, love looking through all the mini books and cards I make and somehow telling them how it all came together feels like I’m telling them all the secret tricks and it won’t seem so amazing any more. Besides, there are a lot of people out there that don’t get it and it is quite heartbreaking when they just can’t understand. So perhaps my biggest reason to keep quiet is the good ol’ fear of rejection. BUT, occasionally someone will come and ask me

“We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same. “(Carlos Castaneda) I found this quote a few years ago, can’t remember how, and it immediately stuck a chord with me. I think that this aptly describes how I go about with my life and what I think of myself. I am always the person saying, “What is the worst that could happen?” whenever things get stressful at work or at home. I also like to remind myself and others that I do not work for an emergency service so, if the customers get their renewal letters a few days late, it really isn’t the end of the world! Stress should only be saved for truly stressful moments, not for every day “minor crises”! At the moment I am facing unemployment but, instead of being miserable about it all, I am using this as an opportunity to maybe get on to something new or to take some time off to think about it all and decide what direction to follow. I’m almost excited about this opportunity I’ve been given! Oth

Last weekend my little boy was a bit restless to go out and we had to entertain him for a few minutes while my DH was getting ready, so I grabbed one of my 12x12 albums and sat down with him while we looked through the photos. This kept him amused enough and gave me a chance to see one of my old albums again (I don’t do this often enough!). This particular album is nearly 3 years old and I had been scrapping “properly” for about 2 years at this point. Supplies were a little harder to get a hold of here in the UK at that point and all of that showed in my album: pages were simple, clean and using mainly stickers as embellishments. Later that evening, my curiosity aroused, I took out ALL my albums and looked at them again: as I scrap my photos in order, the pages were also in the order they were scrapped and besides providing a linear story of my family, they also do a very good job of showing what embellishments I was using at the time! For example, I found the first layout I did using

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about scrapbooking and how that has made my life better. For one, it means that I spend evenings now actually “doing” something as opposed to just sitting on my butt and watching TV. I mean, I still sit on my butt but there is something tangible at the end of the session (and not just a bigger butt, for those clever people out there!) It also gives me the creative outlet that I’d been missing from my life: even though I work in marketing, I rarely get the chance to create anything so this is a lovely change from my day-to-day life. Scrapbooking has also helped me meet many wonderful people: from the ladies I crop with to the ladies I chat to online both here and in the rest of the world, I have made some great friendships. When I moved to the UK I didn’t really know anyone apart from my husband and his friends, so getting my own has certainly helped make my life better. Life with no friends is not worth living, in my book! Earlier in the year I travelled

Most kids here in the UK went back to school this week, the trees are turning orange and I need the heating on in the house: must be the fall. While I really do like those fall days when the sky is blue and the air is brisk, there is always a part of me that knows that I won’t really be feeling any warmth for the next 9 or 10 months and it makes me sad. I am a heat-loving, sun freak and have found it hard to cope with these never-ending UK winters. I guess the main reason is that I’m not used to this: back in Monterrey we have 4 seasons: the warm one, the hot one, the changeable one and the cool one. Sure, it does get cold in the winter (and can even get snow in the higher areas) but this only lasts a couple of months, max. By march at the latest we’re all back in t-shirts. I really, really miss the hot days, those endless days when the sun shines all the time, when you really feel like you’re melting in the 40-plus degree heat and when I can just sit and soak it all in. It goes withou

I love lists and I have them everywhere – on the fridge, on my desk at work, in my wallet, in my diary... basically, I don’t feel that I’m organized until I write a list! So when I saw a thread on UKS about doing a book of me filled with lists, I immediately pounced on the idea and will certainly be using it on my BOM. One list, however, seemed fun but not quite suitable for what I want in my BOM; but it was too good an idea to pass up so I decided to include it here in my blog for all to see. So, ladies and gentlemen, here is my list of 10 favorite scrapbook manufacturers! 1. SEI Not at all surprising if you’ve seen my gallery –it’s SEI-dominated. I really, really like their older, color blocked papers but I also quite like the newer things. When I started out in this hobby, the SEI Simple Sets were my lifesaver and, I believe, have in a way influenced my scrapping style with their simple lines and modern look. 2. Die Cuts With a View (DCWV) Again, shouldn’t be surprising if you

It was red and yellow and green and brown and scarlet and black and ochre and peach and ruby and olive and violet and fawn and lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve and cream and crimson and silver and rose and azure and lemon and russet and grey and purple and white and pink and orange and red and … Recognize it? Of course – it’s from “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and one of my favourite musicals. I remember watching it for the first time and wishing I could also have a coat of many colors! I have always loved color – full on, in your face, wow that’s bright, colors. I normally dress in shades of blue and pink (like I said on previous blog) but I don’t just wear the pastels and I absolutely LOVE bright, hot pink! When I was about 15 my then-boyfriend’s grandma died and I had to go to the funeral. This was the first one I went to and had a mad panic as I didn’t have anything black to wear – not a thing. This is when I realized that I am quite happy with color and rare

I wish I could listen in on product development meetings and scrapbook manufacturers when they decide what their next season’s lines will look like. How do they decide that red is in and blue is out (for example)? How do they set about to plan what a line will look like – will it be plaids or paisley or flowers? Graphic or distressed? Will they have coordinating plastic or metal embellishments – or both? How do they decide on pricing? What about the marketing, how is it planned? How do they decide which lines should no longer be produced – is it based on demand or because they are deemed to be too old? I wish I could listen in on scrapbook magazine planning meetings. How do they really choose new faces? Do they really sit around and discuss which are the best products (in their opinion) or are the decisions made on a commercial basis? To what extent to they actually follow the trends that come from the “troops” (like doodling) or how much do they try to create new and hot trends? Are l

I really love scrapbooking and, since I discovered it, I’ve loved every aspect of it. Recently, though, I’ve noticed that there are a few things are bothering me about this hobby. Remember as you read: this is only my opinion and I have a right to it! (ie, don’t flame me for having an opinion...) 1. The message from the media that one must be constantly buying things in order to do this hobby “well”. Much like fashion, papers are in one minute, out the next and if anyone even thinks of using their “old” papers they are sometimes made to feel inadequate. “Spend, spend, spend!” is the constant mantra and I don’t think this is right. Some people create beautiful albums with few supplies or with (gasp!) older papers. 2. Magazines that dictate styles. I know that magazines speak of “find your own style” but in reality they perpetuate the one-photo, tons of embellishments look that is not easy or desirable for everyone to achieve. Where are the layouts with lots of photos? Where are the la

As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, I love words and writing and reading. I’ve been keeping a journal since I was little and I also have an entire book of poems that I wrote mainly in my teens (and some are not bad, actually!) These poems I lovingly entered in my book with colored pens and doodling, so the book itself is precious but the act of writing poetry meant that I wanted to do that for a living. However, even when I was 10 I knew that poets didn’t make much money and that didn’t sound very appealing. So when I saw the film Superman (the original!) I knew immediately what I wanted to do with myself: I wanted to be a journalist like Lois Lane. It just felt so glamorous – working with words, reporting the stories, maybe even changing the world. This sort of stayed with me for the rest of my growing up years so when the time came to choose a degree I went for journalism, what else? OH! How I loved those first few months in my studies when I was crafting stories, learning about g

What is it about scrappers and Disney? At least here in the UK it seems that most scrappers want to go to a Disney park, have just returned from a Disney vacation or are happily planning one in the future – that is, if they are not all just Disney mad anyway! Why? What is it about Disney that appeals to scrappers or vice versa? Is it the Orlando shopping, the cheap prices, the way to record a memorable family vacation? Is it the cuteness, the family-orientation or the multitudes of characters available? What is it? My own Disney connection is deeper than scrapping (I like to think) as I’ve been going to the Orlando and California parks since I was a baby. In fact, my mom likes to think I was conceived while they were on their Disneyland honeymoon! My nursery was decorated with Mickeys and I used to read books with Disney characters on them. My first “proper” trip to the theme parks was at the age of 2 and of course I remember nothing. But nearly every year after that we’d go to Orlando

Following on from my entry yesterday AND my crop last night, I’ve noticed I do have a lot of restraint when it comes to shopping – in general, but of course stash shopping in specific. I loooove shopping and have so many clothes that they nearly don’t fit in my wardrobe. Notice I say nearly – in order to try and limit myself, I have always had this unwritten rule with myself that ALL my clothes must fit in the available space. If a new item doesn’t, then an old one must go. I have a limited number of hangers, hardly ever get new ones (and that is to replace busted ones, mainly) so my clothes must fit my hangers. I also have limited space in my drawers, etc so my stuff must fit in. I’ve always been like this, but I must admit it was hard when I moved from my spacious walk-in closet back home to my teensy-weensy little house in the UK – I couldn’t fit anything! A big help was that almost none of my clothes were suitable for the UK climate so I did have to replace a lot of stuff and as lo

Following up from a thread on UKS about scrapping spaces, I suddenly realized that the way I keep my stash very much dictates my scrapping style. I don’t mean that I’m tidy and therefore my style is very clean – it’s more complex than that. For example, because I don’t have too much stash I tend to know by heart what I have. This means that I am very good at using both new and old stash on my pages. There is nothing lurking out there that I’ve forgotten about. I still use my MAMBI kids on pages, if they suit the theme! I also have lots of borders and they too have seen the light of day recently. This gives my pages a slightly quirky look. I am not a good hoarder so this means I have no problems using up my stash on pages. While I understand why most scrappers struggle to use their prettiest things, I find that the best way to show off my prettiest things is by using them! There is nothing too precious to use on my pages and I think it shows. Add this to the fact that I know what I own

It’s that time of year again when the manufacturers bring out all their new stuff and try to make us part with even more money: yup, it’s CHA time! I must admit that the only reason I noticed is that online scrapping forums are full of links to blogs and such that mention some of the new goodies that will be available for us scrapbookers to buy. Perhaps because I work in marketing, perhaps because I’m a tightwad or perhaps because I’ve been scrapping too long but... none of these things are making me terribly excited or even mildly interested. They mainly look like gadgets and gizmos designed more to part me from my money than to solve a problem or design issue. Or, they are the same old thing as is already available except that it’s in a different color. Nothing that is making my heart beat faster or anything. Even the designs and color schemes don’t seem that new anymore. My purely personal opinion is that manufacturers are becoming more complacent and business focussed and less crea

It is sad but true – quite a few of the more established UK scrapping shops have closed their doors recently. Some of these closures came as a shock to me, others not quite so but it has generated a lot of discussion on some UK boards. Some fear the demise of the craft, others think that it’s the wholesalers that are the evil ones, others blame “mainstream” stores for getting into the craft and lowering prices, etc. I think it’s about time I presented my theory: and as it’s my blog I can do whatever I want! As a marketeer, I think that what is going on is a combination of things. The first one and easiest to explain is the “boom and bust” theory. Mainly, an industry faces incredible growth but at some tipping point this growth becomes unsustainable and there are casualties. It’s a bit like what’s happened with the Internet bubble when it burst: lots of ambitious plans were abandoned but the industry as a whole is clearly still around. The bubble bursting just slowed down growth to more

How did I start scrapbooking? Well, it’s more of a case of WHEN have I not scrapbooked! I remember being about nine or ten when I thought I should start a diary. So I got a nice notebook and wrote letters to an imaginary friend (a technique which makes journaling easier, by the way, and that I still use today!), first in Spanish and then in English. The latter felt more comfortable so that’s what I’ve used since. I wrote all about me, my dreams, my plans, my ideas, my activities, everything. For years I carried on journaling, and occasionally I would also include a photo or, most often, a drawing that would help illustrate what I was writing about. Also, these journals were always full of color – using differently colored pens for each paragraph or line or (once only) every word! I would also include colorful doodles along the edges (what a trend setter I was!). I think I spent more time journaling than doing almost anything else in those days! Eventually I got busier so I couldn’t sit